


Stay Beautiful

by singinglikeapenguin



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Body Image, F/M, I'm Sorry, One Shot, Sadness, teen angst i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-23 17:58:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6125211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singinglikeapenguin/pseuds/singinglikeapenguin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien has one bad day too many and ends up confiding in Marinette.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> A second fic in a week?? I must be on a roll! To be fair, I just had the inspiration so now there will probably be an impromptu hiatus between now and my next upload. Anywho, have fun ;)

It had been a bad day. Usually it was okay, and he could keep those goddamn thoughts at bay but today… he just couldn’t. As soon as he was done with the photoshoot of the afternoon, after all those comments from the photographer about him being off his game and looking pale and “are you feeling alright?” before he could finally call it quits and leave the anxious man and the vulture-eyed people, judging him for the way he looked, once he was done with all that he went home. He didn’t bother going to the last few lessons of the day, he just needed to breathe. He ignored Natalie, hounding him as soon as his foot stepped over the threshold of the Agreste mansion and almost bolted to his room, seeking comfort in whatever news there was on the Ladyblog, whatever new game he had at the moment on his phone and his bed. He was tempted to make his way to the kitchen, but he knew that he would only feel worse afterwards. 

So to his room he went. As soon as he was inside, he locked the door behind him (ever thankful for the en-suite bathroom) and crumbled onto his bed. He must have fallen asleep because when he checked his phone a little while later, it was almost 6pm. He got up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, ignoring a concerned Plagg and went into his bathroom. He looked himself up and down in the mirror, surprised at how tired and rundown he looked. He splashed his face with some cold water, in the hopes that it would wake him up enough to complete his homework and left his perilous sanctuary.

He started with the homework from the previous day, which he hadn’t had the time to complete because his father insisted they meet some high-profile clients – some people Adrien had no interest in and couldn’t remember the names of now. About an hour into some maths he put his pen down, realising that he wasn’t actually understanding anything about the subject (geometry has always been a weak point of his) and that his stomach was growling. At that exact moment, the cow bell rang, signalling to the Agreste men that their dinner was on the table, hot and waiting. Adrien was almost sure his dad wouldn’t even go down, but he would feel guilty if he didn’t. Glancing at Plagg who had fallen asleep out of boredom, he left his room and made his way to the dining room.

Once he stepped foot inside, his previous assumptions were verified. There was no Gabriel Agreste delighting the large room with his presence. Only two, splendidly cooked meals were warming the marble hell, along with one waiter. Adrien took his place, next to the head of the table and began to eat. After a few bites however, he found that he couldn’t even force himself to continue. So he left, while Gabriel’s plate was still cooling down. The waiter didn’t make a single comment or even look at the boy but Adrien knew that he was being judged and he hated it. He escaped the waiter’s gate as quickly as possible, hoping to attain the sanctuary of his room as quickly as he could. He sprinted past his bed and went straight to the bathroom, scared that he would throw up everything that he had just ingested. When that didn’t happen, he just sat on the bedroom floor, head balanced on the porcelain of the toilet and tears running down his cheeks.

He stayed there a while, he wasn’t sure how long, until his phone beeped, signalling that he had a new message. He slowly got up and, on unsteady feet, made his way to his bedside table where his phone was residing. It was from Marinette, asking how his day had been. He wanted to be honest with her, tell her it had been shit and that tomorrow wouldn’t be better but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her. So he replied with a “fine” and a smiley face and put his phone down again before falling face-first onto his bed and passing out from exhaustion. Marinette’s reply text didn’t cause enough of a commotion to wake him up.

-

20 minutes passed by and no reply. She assumed he must have fallen asleep. Adrien and Marinette had gotten closer over the past year or so (once Marinette got over his stardom and she stopped stuttering so much around him. But that incident is for another time). She knew that modelling took its toll on him and sometimes he was just more tired than others. But she also knew that he was supposed to have come back to school for the last few hours, but he hadn’t turned up. So, being the caring girl she was, she started worrying about him. She worried until after dinner when she decided that she couldn’t worry any longer and sent him a text asking how his day had been. His reply was less than convincing, but she let it slide, hoping to maybe get him to open up a bit more over the course of the evening. But apparently that wasn’t going to happen – over half an hour had passed by and not one reply from the Agreste boy. Marinette didn’t beat herself up about it too much and got on with her schoolwork and new design with earnest.

She was so involved with her work that she didn’t notice the hours fly by and before she knew it, it was nearing 1am the following morning and her phone was ringing. It was Adrien. She picked up instantly, trying to keep her voice level.

“Hello?”

“Hey. I was just-” Adrien hiccoughed, hiding sobs.

“Adrien? What’s going on?” Marinette asked frantically, not managing to keep the anxiety from entering her voice.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?” Adrien’s voice was no more than a whisper, as if he was trying his hardest to keep it together.

“No! I was working, you definitely did not wake me up! But please Adrien, tell me what’s going on” she pleaded with him.

“I just… I can’t deal with this.” Adrien breathed heavily. It would be the first time he ever confided in someone like this and he wanted to be sure she wouldn’t freak out and that she wouldn’t leave him because he wasn’t sure he could handle that. “Can we meet somewhere? I know it’s late but I just need to get out of this stuffy home.” For someone who lived in a mansion so sparsely populated, it would seem strange to feel overwhelmed by the people in it but Adrien was. He always was.

“Uh… Okay. If that’s what you need. Down by the Seine? Near the Tower? I can be there in 20 ish minutes.” Marinette replied, trying to calm herself down as much as she was trying to calm him.

“Okay” Adrien replied breathlessly. “I’ll see you there soon.”

As soon as he hung up, Marinette sprung up from her previously seated position, ignoring her aching joints and muscles. She had to get there fast, but was unsure she could use Ladybug. After all, what if a fan stopped her? And what is Adrien accidentally found out her identity?

Marinette deliberated for half a minute before making up her mind and waking up Tikki to transform (as quietly as possible) and to get to the promised meeting place in the allotted time. She decided that she would go over the roofs and would de-transform a block or so away, in an unoccupied alley. Little did she know that Adrien was making the same sort of bargain, half a town away.

 

She got there first. She panicked for a while, scared that he wouldn’t turn up, until she caught a flash of blonde hair (he hadn’t bothered taking a hoodie with him and had flown out of his room wearing nothing more than his pyjamas and shoes) approaching her. She saw how he was clothed and cursed under her breath. That lovable goof hadn’t taken anything with him. So she started in his direction, taking her scarf off as she walked and when they met halfway, she wrapped it around his neck.

“There. Better?” She asked kindly. What she didn’t realise was that Adrien was only holding himself together by a thread, and her kind eyes were enough to break the dam and before he knew it, tears were running down his cheeks again. Marinette followed her instinct and pulled him into her. He all but collapsed on her while great sobs racked his body and she stroked his hair, humming under her breath to calm him down, make him feel safe.

It felt like they were in their own little bubble. The illusion was only shattered by a distant church bell, signalling the half hour. Adrien’s sobs had somewhat subsided and his breath was slowly coming back to him. Once he realised their somewhat awkward position, he drew away gradually and looked Marinette in the eyes, proposing that they sit on the bank of the river.

The Seine at night was one of the most beautiful sights he ever saw in his life. He had never been out and this far from home so late but he knew right then that his panicked phone call was worth it.

Adrien and Marinette sat in a comfortable silence. Marinette wanted to ask him what was wrong, why he was so shattered but she didn’t want to spook him so she settled for admiring the river and, from time to time, the boy at her side.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, but was barely 5 minutes, Adrien spoke. He told her of how shit he felt. Of how he felt that he could never attain what was expected of him. How he would never be what anyone wanted. How he was just not good enough and he never would be good enough. He wasn’t fast enough or slim enough or muscular enough or _masculine enough_ or he was too emotional or too stressed or too much of everything bad. It all flooded out, ending with “I even hate how I look”. Adrien could not stand his body. He hated every inch of it. He detested the way his hair fell, or how on some days you could count his ribs, or the way the girls fawned over him because he _looked cool_. He loathed his dietary requirements to appear one way or another. He abhorred his father’s comments, the photographers’ glances and the other models’ whispers. He resented how even at school he was a “golden boy” and everyone expected something from him absolutely everyone.

As he finished his rant, he realised that Marinette had not looked away from him once. She had been fully concentrated on him, his feelings for the past God knows how many minutes. She cared. She didn’t expect anything from him. And now that he had gotten all of it off his chest he felt somewhat lighter. Not necessarily better just … lighter.

-

Marinette had tears running down her cheeks. She had never noticed how awful he felt. She felt awful for not realising sooner, for not offering her shoulder to lean on. Once Adrien was finished and he was looking at her, studying her face, she couldn’t help it.

She leaned in and kissed him lightly. As she pulled back, she reassured him that he could always confide in her and that she would always listen.

* * *

 

A few months went by. After Adrien had let it all out, he and Marinette had stayed up for a few more hours, sometimes talking, sometimes just basking in each other’s company. They had ironed out the last little things in their friendship and Adrien was fully convinced that Marinette wasn’t just playing with him and that he could trust her. He had walked her home around 4am before waking up Plagg to transform into Chat so that he could get home and maybe sleep an hour or so before the next day.

During this period, Marinette and Adrien just got closer and closer. He came to her often with feelings of uselessness and unworthiness and she would always find a way to cheer him up. And when Marinette was feeling the cold fingers of anxiety and stress start to wrap around her, she would go to Adrien. They still talked to their respective best friends, but they just seemed to gravitate towards each other more.

It was inevitable then, that that summer they would declare themselves an official couple (to a few surprised screams, unsurprised eye rolls and money exchanging hands).

A week or so after they decided to declare themselves a couple, Adrien was woken from an afternoon nap by the sound of small pebbles hitting his balcony door. Confused, he got up and went outside onto the balcony (and almost got hit by a bit of gravel in the process). Stunned, he noticed Marinette holding a guitar and standing on his father’s back lawn, gazing up at his balcony. She smiled at him and began strumming.

_His eyes are like a jungle, he smiles it’s like the radio_

_He whispers songs into my window in words that nobody knows_

As she kept singing, Adrien felt himself falling more and more in love with this wonderful, amazing human being singing a song to make him feel better. Before he knew it, she was halfway through the song and he had fled down the stairs. He ran towards her before she could finish and picked her up in a flying hug.

“Put me down!” Marinette exclaimed through her laughter. “I have to finish the song!”

So, like a gentleman, he set her down and she picked up from where she had left off, a twinkle in her eye.

(Later on Adrien would discover that she had borrowed the guitar from her dad and had learnt to play that one song for him).

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr! We can fanperson over ML together ;)


End file.
